EXPERIMENTAL IN-PLANE COMPRESSION TEST OF BRICK MASONRY WALLS WITH REINFORCEMENT RATIO

Perforated clay brick masonry is a popular and widely used construction, offering both structural and aesthetic benefits. The structural behavior of perforated clay brick masonry walls is a significant topic in the field of civil engineering. However, understanding the compressive and tensile strength of these walls are influenced by various factors such as the quality of mortar joints, the distribution of mortar, and the presence of reinforcement. The purpose of this study is to investigate the compressive behavior of four perforated clay brick masonry walls, using cement-sand mortar, with two different systems under in-plane compression load. The first masonry system is unreinforced with filling joints, and the other system is reinforced by steel bars embedded in the mortar as a low reinforcement ratio. The study provided valuable arguments about how mortar distribution affects wall performance, which is significantly impacted by poor quality of head joints and the fully or partially distributed mortar in the masonry joints. Also, the role of low reinforcement ratio within the construction industry has important effect. The mentioned parameters are investigated through practical case studies demonstrating their effects in the context of ductility and ultimate load capacity. It was found that the compressive strength of the unreinforced masonry system is highly increased to the distribution of the mortar by 35 % and 133% for filling all holes in brick units and the head joints, respectively, due to increasing the bonding between brick units in the masonry wall specimen. In the reinforced masonry system, the utilization of a low reinforcement ratio is increased the ultimate load capacity by 60% and decreased the ultimate displacement by 54%., but it is no longer provided significant changes to the ductility.